Alistair,

I’m the cryosleep maintenance engineer on a spaceship launched for far reaches of space. I’m woken up every ten years to fix things up before going back into cryosleep. I woke up this time though and found out that the thrusters broke. We haven’t moved in ten years, and I haven’t got the parts to fix it. The planetary settlement program dissolved in some budget cutbacks a while ago, so I can’t even contact anyone.

Advice?

Wrench Turner in Orbit

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Wrench Turner,

My answer to this question depends entirely on which of  the settlement ships you’re on. 

Are you on the ship with the scientists? The engineers? The tradesmen? These people might be able to problem solve this with you – maybe even fabricating problem-solving parts and tools with which to fix your precious thrusters.

Or are you on the settlement ship with the insurance salesmen, public relations executives and hairdressers?

You’re on that ship, aren’t you. In that case. . . it’s probably for the best.

Alistair